About 40% of people feel some anxiety about flying. At Portland International Airport, the answer to that nervous energy has four legs and an improbable amount of charm.
Beni the llama and Captain Jack the alpaca work the concourses every few weeks, part of PDX's animal therapy program. They're not permanent residents — they split their time between the airport and Mountain Peaks Therapy farm, where they live full-time. But during their shifts, they're quietly good at what they do: stopping travelers mid-stride, softening tense shoulders, turning blank stares into genuine smiles.
"My favorite response is when people turn the corner and see a llama and their body just melts in excitement," Shannon Joy, co-owner of Mountain Peaks Therapy, told OPB. She and her business partner Lori started the therapy work back in 2007, visiting senior communities and schools. Requests for private events followed, and eventually, an airport reached out.
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News Detox
What makes Beni and Captain Jack especially suited for this work isn't just their gentle nature — it's their confidence. According to Joy, llamas and alpacas with the kind of autonomy these two possess are rare. They don't startle easily. They don't mind crowds. They seem to understand, somehow, that they're there to help.
Research backs up what travelers experience firsthand. Studies in Frontiers in Veterinary Science show that interacting with therapy animals reduces anxiety, improves mood, and increases social connection. Most of that research focuses on dogs and horses, but the effect holds across species. There's something about touching a warm animal, about making eye contact with something that isn't rushing anywhere, that resets your nervous system.
PDX's broader redesign — which intentionally weaves nature throughout the terminal — recognizes something airports have mostly ignored: that travel stress is real, and small interventions matter. "Being in nature is a stress reliever," Allison Ferre, a spokesperson for the Port of Portland, told NPR. The animals are one part of that strategy, but they're the part people actually remember.
Visitors collect trading cards featuring Beni and Captain Jack's personalities. Photos are encouraged. The whole thing is designed to be low-pressure and human-scale — not a performance, just a moment of connection before you head to security.
Other airports are watching. When a simple idea — bring therapy animals to a place where people are anxious — works this well, it spreads.
